Christian Subversion And Missionary Activities - 4

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Interesting account. It had always been my opinion that Bobby Jindal's conversion has been one of political convenience and ambition, coupled with strong desire to assimilate in a predominantly christian society. Seems like that is becoming more and more obvious.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>"Bobby" Jindal: The Story They Don't Want You to Read  </b>

(This account of "Bobby" Jindal's political and, as it were, religious formation during the 1990s is required reading for those who desire to understand how and why this conflicted human being has ensconced himself behind an infinite regression of masks. In the interest of full disclosure, the only party with whom LAMediaWatch collaborated when researching and preparing this essay was me. No other person, group or organization is responsible for the content of this text. - promoted by pointecoupeedemocrat)

<b>Background:  </b>

When the Louisiana Democratic Party announced their intentions to air a series of television commercials about gubernatorial candidate Bobby Jindal, the Jindal campaign immediately went into damage control mode. Tim Teepell, Jindal’s campaign manager, rushed out an e-mail claiming that Democrats would be launching an ad that “attacks Bobby for his Christian Faith (sp).” WAFB initially reported that one of the ads concerned Jindal’s published account of an exorcism he witnessed (and arguably, participated in) while an undergraduate at Brown  University. The Louisiana Democratic Party later clarified that the commercial did not concern Jindal’s “exorcism” story.

Ironically, the preemptive damage control efforts by Mr. Teepell have unintentionally piqued interest in this story.  Currently, a Google search for “Bobby Jindal exorcism” yields over 300 results from both newspapers and blogs.

Relevance: 

Before addressing the specifics of the story, one must account for its relevance and significance. A handful of conservatives are now uncharacteristically claiming that Jindal’s faith should not be an issue. Of course, when the tables are turned, faith always seems to be an issue. A few months ago, Fox News ran an erroneous story about Barack Obama’s elementary school, implying Obama attended some sort of training school for young Muslim terrorists, and although the story is bogus and has since been retracted, some conservatives continue to argue that Obama is actually a Muslim.

In Mr. Jindal’s case, however, the facts are clear. Mr. Jindal wrote the story himself, and when he was a Rhodes Scholar, his story, “Beating a Demon: Physical Dimensions of Spiritual Warfare,” was published in the December 1994 edition of the New Oxford Review. As a two-time candidate for Louisiana Governor, Mr. Jindal should certainly understand that his published writing, particularly an essay published in an esteemed journal, is relevant for discussion. However, judging by his campaign’s response, he is clearly embarrassed or unwilling to speak about an experience that, only thirteen years prior, he enthusiastically shared with the readership of the New Oxford Review.

Faith may be personal, but it is intellectually dishonest for anyone to suggest that the voters of Louisiana do not have the right to read and question a published essay written by Mr. Jindal, a candidate for governor. The Jindal campaign’s hard-line approach against those who question this essay is also troubling. They have attempted to suggest that Mr. Jindal’s published essay about an exorcism is inherently off-limits because it concerns his “personal faith.” Yet, on the campaign trail, Mr. Jindal frequently speaks about his personal faith, and he would certainly admit that his faith guides his legislative decisions. One must assume, therefore, that Mr. Jindal believes his faith can only be discussed when it is politically expedient. Otherwise, questions about his faith are off-limits, even if they concern his own published work.

<b>Jindal’s Conversion: </b>

While attending Brown University and later Oxford University, Bobby Jindal wrote often about the struggle of converting to Catholicism. Jindal was born and raised as a Hindu. His father, Raj, and mother, Amar, are first-generation immigrants from Punjab,  India. Mr. Jindal claims that Hinduism provided “moral guidance and spiritual comfort” during his formative years. When he was a teenager, Mr. Jindal was prompted to read the Bible after a friend told him that he and his parents would be “going to hell” if they did not convert. Mr. Jindal began studying Christianity in an attempt to prove otherwise. From INDOlink’s “Living in America! The Agony and Ecstasy of Bobby Jindal”:

“My journey from Hinduism to Christianity was a gradual and painful one,” Bobby Jindal acknowledged in a 1993 article that he wrote while he was a graduate student at Oxford.

As Jindal readily confessed in that article, “it never occurred to me that I should consider any other religion; to be a Hindu was an aspect of my Indian identity.” Thus, when a childhood friend, intent on converting the world, first introduced him to Christianity by warning him “you and your parents are going to hell,” he recalls that he “was hardly convinced.” Jindal was also “angered by the arrogance of my Southern Baptist friend who claimed his faith was the one true path to God.” That’s because he realized that his friend sought to “deny the experience of billions of people who have never seen a copy of the Bible.” 

Nevertheless the event did succeed in motivating him to “examine Hinduism on its own merits and doctrines” even as he was “searching for an objectively true faith that would lead me to God.” Simultaneously he began reading the Bible “to disprove the Christian faith I was learning both to admire and despise.” That was also a time when he “was touched by the love and simplicity of a Christian girl who dreamt of becoming a Supreme Court justice so she could stop her country from “killing unborn babies.”

As he delved deeper into the Bible, says Jindal, “I saw myself in many of the parables and felt as if the Bible had been written especially for me. After reading every book I could find on the historical accuracy of the Bible and Christianity, I was convinced that the Bible had remained unaltered throughout the centuries and that circumstances surrounding Christ’s death led to the conversions of thousands.” 

Jindal admits that up to that point his perspective remained intellectual and not spiritual.

The next decisive event in Jindal’s spiritual quest came in the form of a short, black and white film depicting the crucifixion of Christ. As he recalled, “For the first time I actually imagined what it meant for the Son of God to be humiliated and even killed for my sake. Although the movie did not convince me that anything was true, it did force me to wonder if Christians were right. I realized that if the Gospel stories were true, if Christ really was the Son of God, it was arrogant of me to reject Him and question the gift of salvation.” 

It required many hours of discussion with a pastor before he was “ready to take that leap of faith and accept Christ into my life.” It would be another two years before he would be baptized into the Catholic faith. But in deference to his parent’s wishes Jindal reveals that he chose to have the ceremony in Providence rather than in Baton Rouge.

Interestingly, Mr. Jindal explains that one of the reasons he considered conversion was due to the simple “compassion” of a young girl who dreamt of being appointed to the United States Supreme Court so that she could overturn Roe v. Wade. From an early age, Mr. Jindal was impressed by this young Christian’s political aspirations, and when reviewing the early life of Mr. Jindal, it is difficult not to recognize the same brand of political ambition. 

Mr. Jindal’s decision to convert to Catholicism created tension at home. For his parents, his conversion represented more than simply a rejection of Hinduism; it was also a rejection of “tradition.” Quoting again from “Living in America! The Agony and Ecstasy of Bobby Jindal”:

As Jindal explains, “My parents went through different phases of anger and disappointment. They blamed themselves for being bad parents, blamed me for being a bad son and blamed evangelists for spreading dissension. There were heated discussions, many of them invoking family loyalty and national identity.” 

He elaborates: “My parents have never truly accepted my conversion and still see my faith as a negative that overshadows my accomplishments. They were hurt and felt I was rejecting them by accepting Christianity.” According to Jindal, his parents resorted to “ethnic loyalty” to counter his new faith.

In an article published in Jesuit Magazine, Jindal states, “New converts often treasure their Catholic faith because of the painful and deliberate process through which they accepted Christ. If Christianity is worth risking family and friends, it is worth practicing on a daily basis.” In 1994, the national Catholic weekly magazine America published another Jindal article entitled “Choosing Between Church and Family: The Spiritual Journey of Converts.” He writes: 

My parents requested that I never mention my faith to my brother or try to evangelize others. I replied that I could not promise such things, but would voluntarily refrain from such activities for now to please them. I also noted that I would never lie to my brother if directly asked about my Christian faith. I reserved the right to answer questions and assist those already seeking Christianity. My parents were concerned that my zeal would lead me to force them, my brother and others to accept my newfound faith. They did not want other parents to experience their pain and were afraid of losing their other son. Though I refused to violate certain principles {I was ready to move out rather than reject my Christian faith, and I insisted on a firm deadline for my baptism}, my flexibility on certain other issues convinced my parents that I truly cared for them and was trying to compromise without sacrificing my integrity.

During the early 1990s, Mr. Jindal wrote prolifically about his conversion to Catholicism. His work was published nationally and internationally. For Catholic publications, Mr. Jindal must have appeared to be a shining star—a young and ambitious Hindu who ostensibly converted to Catholicism for all of the right reasons. 

<b>Jindal’s Rise:  </b>

In many ways, Mr. Jindal’s sudden ascendance into political prominence is partly because of his conversion to Catholicism. This is not to insult Mr. Jindal, but it is merely to suggest that due to his numerous published essays and articles on his own conversion and his work on religious conversion as a Rhodes Scholar, Mr. Jindal made a name for himself at a young age. 

Consider, if you will, the political climate of the early 1990s, the time in which Mr. Jindal wrote about his conversion. In 1994, Newt Gingrich and the GOP ushered in what they called “The Republican Revolution,” and the Republicans became in control of the House for the first time in nearly forty years. Meanwhile, Bobby Jindal, after finishing Oxford, was working for McKinsey and Company, a multi-billion dollar “management consulting firm.” 

In 1996, here in Louisiana, Mike Foster, a Republican, was elected governor. For some odd reason, Governor Foster appointed a young and inexperienced kid from a management consulting firm as Secretary of Louisiana’s Health and Hospitals. At 24 years old, Bobby Jindal became Secretary Jindal. Only six years before, Mr. Jindal was a Hindu teenager living with his parents in Baton Rouge. 

Mr. Jindal’s early and sudden rise into political prominence has raised many eyebrows. His ambition is unquestionable, but the ways in which he has gained prominence are worthy of attention and suspicion. Despite the fact that Louisiana’s national healthcare ranking dropped into last place during his tenure, Secretary Jindal, at the age of 27, became President Jindal after he was appointed President of the University of Louisiana system. Two years later, he found a better gig with the Bush Administration. He became Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services. Then he ran for Governor. Then he ran for Congress. Now he is running for Governor again.

Bobby Jindal has spent practically all of his professional life in politics, and his political career primarily consists of appointments. He was appointed, appointed again, appointed again, appointed again, and then appointed again. No, I am not counting his years in Congress as an “appointment,” though Jindal, who had to move into the district to qualify, was essentially coroneted by David Vitter and the Republican Party.

If you are looking for Bobby Jindal before politics, the only thing you will find is a series of essays he wrote about converting from Hinduism to Catholicism. But don’t worry. The essays are actually fascinating and revealing, which is probably why Mr. Jindal does not want you to read at least one of them. 

<b>“Beating a Demon”: </b>

Of the Collected Works of Bobby Jindal, one story, in particular, has been the subject of intense scrutiny. The story concerns Mr. Jindal, as an undergraduate, participating in a strange type of exorcism ceremony. This experience, claims Mr. Jindal, helped to underscore his nascent Catholic faith.

This, in a truncated and paraphrased form, is the now-famous exorcism story:

When Bobby Jindal was attending Brown University, he had a friend named “Susan.” Susan and Bobby were very close friends. Some people even thought the two were an item, but they never were. One day, Susan and Bobby attended a Christian concert, and in the middle of the show, Susan got up and left. Bobby knew something was wrong. He followed her outside, and she was sobbing. Bobby tried to console her. A female friend showed up and gave Susan a hug. Bobby knew the problem would not go away with a hug, and he offered to walk her back to her dorm room. Once they were in the room, Susan confessed why she was upset. She said she had cancer. Skin cancer. Bobby promised to stand by her forever. He sat next to her in bed and distracted her with “fairy tales.” Susan calmed down. 

The next time they were supposed to meet for dinner, Susan was late. She refused to apologize, so Bobby refused to speak with her for a week. But they quickly resolved everything when Susan opened up about her nightmares and the strange, unknown odors emanating from her dorm room. Bobby attributed the odor to the devil, because it smelled like sulfur. Susan also told Bobby about speaking in tongues and visions she had. Bobby became worried and scared. Bobby had heard a priest claim that “angels, spirits, and other such apparitions” were not meant for literal interpretation. Still, he wanted to believe Susan. 

When Susan was telling Bobby this, he excused himself and left the room. Then, he made the sign of the cross and prayed to God for help. When he walked back into the room, Susan “angrily lashed out” at Bobby, and he thought, “Gee. Thanks God. So much for prayer.”

The next day, when Susan went for another set of tests, Bobby and his friends in the University Christian Fellowship club (UCF) organized a prayer meeting for Susan later that evening. Bobby asked Susan if she wanted him to attend the meeting. At first she said no, but she quickly changed her mind.

The UCF prayer meeting was held in a classroom. A group of people, including Bobby, Susan, and Susan’s sister, sat in a circle on the floor and sang songs and prayed together. Suddenly, right after a group prayer, Susan “emitted some strange guttural sounds.” Bobby thought she may be having a seizure. Susan’s sister told everyone to place their hands on Susan’s body. Bobby “refused” and “froze in horror.” Susan began to scream Bobby’s name. She yelled, “Bobby, you cannot even love Susan.” Bobby thought it was funny she referred to herself in the third person. Bobby walked to the back of the room, and Susan began insulting every person in the room, revealing private information and embarrassing secrets. 

Susan’s sister and a woman named “Louise,” who Bobby says was “a member of a charismatic church,” pinned Susan down and prayed loudly and desperately. They yelled things like, “Satan, I command you to leave this woman” and commanded “(all) demons to leave in the name of Christ.” Susan continued shouting. Bobby tried to remain calm, though at one point, he thought he could be having a stroke. Bobby considered calling the campus priest, but he also thought that Catholicism could actually be bogus. He was having questions about his faith. Instead, the students in the UCF meeting continued to pray for Susan. Bobby tried praying, but he became exhausted.... 

(<i>the remainder of the account of this event can be found at...</i>)

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